Preamp required ?

[fryer]

Hi, I use a Hofner club bass, short scale, passive and mellow. I've just bought a TC RH 450 head, and a Berg AE 112 cab.

If I added a pre amp, not onboard, what would it do to the sound and volume ?

Richard

[Mr. Foxen]

Shouldn't really do anything you can't do by fiddling with the head.

[fatback]

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='953964' date='Sep 12 2010, 08:22 PM']Shouldn't really do anything you can't do by fiddling with the head.[/quote]

Dunno. I use a Sadowsky outboard pre with passive basses, and it thickens up the sound beautifully in a way I can't match with the amp alone.

No effect on volume - it's only gain after all, more a quality thing. i use it at the amp end of the guitar lead, cos it's handy that way. At the other end, it should help with signal to noise, i suppose, but I've not bothered.

Can't imagine leaving it behind.

Edited September 13, 2010 by fatback

[Barefootbassplayer]

If you add a pre-amp into a chain won't do much to your volume, although there may be a perecived increase on decrease depending on what sound you go for. However, a pre-amp effectively gives you more options to shape your sound to achieve a toe you are looking for.

If your head is in the one i'm thinking of it has a 4 band eq with some sort of tube tone as well. If you then get a pre-amp which only has a 3 band eq then you're not really adding many more options however if you buy something like this

[url="http://www.swrsound.com/products/search.php?partno=4405200000"]http://www.swrsound.com/products/search.ph...rtno=4405200000[/url]

You get an eq with more options, compressor, valve and various other bells and whistles that will help you shape your tone a lot more.

If you're not after a lot more options then I wouldn't worry too much! If you want more volume then a pre-amp won't really help

[fatback]

[quote name='Barefootbassplayer' post='956958' date='Sep 15 2010, 10:09 AM']If you add a pre-amp into a chain won't do much to your volume, although there may be a perecived increase on decrease depending on what sound you go for. However, a pre-amp effectively gives you more options to shape your sound to achieve a toe you are looking for.

If your head is in the one i'm thinking of it has a 4 band eq with some sort of tube tone as well. If you then get a pre-amp which only has a 3 band eq then you're not really adding many more options however if you buy something like this

[url="http://www.swrsound.com/products/search.php?partno=4405200000"]http://www.swrsound.com/products/search.ph...rtno=4405200000[/url]

You get an eq with more options, compressor, valve and various other bells and whistles that will help you shape your tone a lot more.

If you're not after a lot more options then I wouldn't worry too much! If you want more volume then a pre-amp won't really help[/quote]


+1

An added factor though is 'character'. I don't use the preamp for tone control, but by just being there it adds amazingly to the quality of the sound from passives. Maybe it's to do with the harmonic content being altered in subtle ways. I'm using a very basic two band Sadowsky. Aguilar would be worth a try too.

For me it was like having new basses, and the effect is the same whether I put it through my old Trace or my new AE Doubler.

[fryer]

Thank you all for your help. I think I will try maybe one of the basic ones.